(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis told young people that the world needs those who do not live to live their lives “halfway” and who like Christ are ready to spend their lives serving the poorest and most vulnerable. He said the Way of the Cross is Jesus’ style and is a way that fears no lack of success, ostracism or solitude. The Pope was speaking at the conclusion of a Way of the Cross event attended by young people taking part in the World Youth Day gathering in the Polish city of Krakow. During his address to the young people, the Pope had affectionate words of greeting for “our brothers and sisters from Syria who have fled from the war.” The Syrian refugees were among a group of about 20 young people helping to carry the Cross during the first station. The others included a Polish couple who until recently lived on the streets and young people from Italy, Argentina, Ukraine and Pakistan.
Please find below a translation into English of the Pope’s prepared remarks at the Way of the Cross event:
I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
I was naked and you gave me clothing,
I was sick and you took care of me,
I was in prison and you visited me (Mt 25:35-36).
These words of Jesus answer the question that arises so often in our minds and hearts: “Where is God?” Where is God, if evil is present in our world, if there are men and women who are hungry and thirsty, homeless, exiles and refugees? Where is God, when innocent persons die as a result of violence, terrorism and war? Where is God, when cruel diseases break the bonds of life and affection? Or when children are exploited and demeaned, and they too suffer from grave illness? Where is God, amid the anguish of those who doubt and are troubled in spirit? These are questions that humanly speaking have no answer. We can only look to Jesus and ask him. And Jesus’ answer is this: “God is in them”. Jesus is in them; he suffers in them and deeply identifies with each of them. He is so closely united to them as to form with them, as it were, “one body”.
Jesus himself chose to identify with these our brothers and sisters enduring pain and anguish by agreeing to tread the “way of sorrows” that led to Calvary. By dying on the cross, he surrendered himself into to the hands of the Father, taking upon himself and in himself, with self-sacrificing love, the physical, moral and spiritual wounds of all humanity. By embracing the wood of the cross, Jesus embraced the nakedness, the hunger and thirst, the loneliness, pain and death of men and women of all times. Tonight Jesus, and we with him, embrace with particular love our brothers and sisters from Syria who have fled from the war. We greet them and we welcome them with fraternal affection and friendship.
By following Jesus along the Way of the Cross, we have once again realized the importance of imitating him through the fourteen works of mercy. These help us to be open to God’s mercy, to implore the grace to appreciate that without mercy we can do nothing; without mercy, neither I nor you nor any of us can do a thing. Let us first consider the seven corporal works of mercy: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, visiting the sick and those in prison, and burying the dead. Freely we have received, so freely let us give. We are called to serve the crucified Jesus in all those who are marginalized, to touch his sacred flesh in those who are disadvantaged, in those who hunger and thirst, in the naked and imprisoned, the sick and unemployed, in those who are persecuted, refugees and migrants. There we find our God; there we touch the Lord. Jesus himself told us this when he explained the criterion on which we will be judged: whenever we do these things to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do them to him (cf. Mt 25:31-46).
After the corporal works of mercy come the spiritual works: counseling the doubtful, instructing the ignorant, admonishing sinners, consoling the afflicted, pardoning offences, bearing wrongs patiently, praying for the living and the dead. In welcoming the outcasts who suffer physically and welcoming sinners who suffer spiritually, our credibility as Christians is at stake.
Humanity today needs men and women, and especially young people like yourselves, who do not wish to live their lives “halfway”, young people ready to spend their lives freely in service to those of their brothers and sisters who are poorest and most vulnerable, in imitation of Christ who gave himself completely for our salvation. In the face of evil, suffering and sin, the only response possible for a disciple of Jesus is the gift of self, even of one’s own life, in imitation of Christ; it is the attitude of service. Unless those who call themselves Christians live to serve, their lives serve no good purpose. By their lives, they deny Jesus Christ.
This evening, dear friends, the Lord once more asks you to be in the forefront of serving others. He wants to make of you a concrete response to the needs and sufferings of humanity. He wants you to be signs of his merciful love for our time! To enable you to carry out this mission, he shows you the way of personal commitment and self-sacrifice. It is the Way of the Cross. The Way of the Cross is the way of fidelity in following Jesus to the end, in the often dramatic situations of everyday life. It is a way that fears no lack of success, ostracism or solitude, because it fills ours hearts with the fullness of Jesus. The Way of the Cross is the way of God’s own life, his “style”, which Jesus brings even to the pathways of a society at times divided, unjust and corrupt.
The Way of the Cross alone defeats sin, evil and death, for it leads to the radiant light of Christ’s resurrection and opens the horizons of a new and fuller life. It is the way of hope, the way of the future. Those who take up this way with generosity and faith give hope and a future to humanity.
Dear young people, on that Good Friday many disciples went back crestfallen to their homes. Others chose to go out to the country to forget the cross. I ask you: How do you want to go back this evening to your own homes, to the places where you are staying? How do you want to go back this evening to be alone with your thoughts? Each of you has to answer the challenge that this question sets before you.
(from Vatican Radio)…
Address of His Holiness Pope Francis Conclusion of the Way of the Cross Krakow, 29 July 2016 – I was hungry and you
gave me food, I was thirsty and you
gave me something o drink, I was a stranger and
you welcomed me, I was naked and you
gave me clothing, I was sick and you
took care of me, I was in prison and
you visited me (Mt 25:35-36). These
words of Jesus answer the question that arises so often in our minds and
hearts: “Where is God?” Where is God, if evil is present in our
world, if there are men and women who are hungry and thirsty, homeless, exiles
and refugees? Where is God, when
innocent persons die as a result of violence, terrorism and war? Where is God, when cruel diseases break the
bonds of life and affection? Or when
children are exploited and demeaned, and they too suffer from grave
illness? Where is God, amid the anguish
of those who doubt and are troubled in spirit?
These are questions that humanly speaking have no answer. We can only look to Jesus and ask him. And Jesus’ answer is this: “God is in
them”. Jesus is in them; he suffers in
them and deeply identifies with each of them.
He is so closely united to them as to form with them, as it were, “one
body”. Jesus
himself chose to identify with these our brothers and sisters enduring pain and
anguish by agreeing to tread the “way of sorrows” that led to Calvary. By dying on the cross, he surrendered himself
into to the hands of the Father, taking upon himself and in himself, with
self-sacrificing love, the physical, moral and spiritual wounds of all
humanity. By embracing the wood of the
cross, Jesus embraced the nakedness, the hunger and thirst, the loneliness,
pain and death of men and women of all times.
Tonight Jesus, and we with him, embrace with particular love our
brothers and sisters from Syria who have fled from the war. We greet them and we welcome them with
fraternal affection and friendship. By
following Jesus along the Way of the Cross, we have once again realized the
importance of imitating him through the fourteen works of mercy . These help
us to be open to God’s mercy, to implore the grace to appreciate that without
mercy we can do nothing; without mercy, neither I nor you nor any of us can do
a thing. Let us first consider the seven
corporal works of mercy: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty,
clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, visiting the sick and those in
prison, and burying the dead. Freely we
have received, so freely let us give. We
are called to serve the crucified Jesus in all those who are marginalized, to
touch his sacred flesh in those who are disadvantaged, in those who hunger and
thirst, in the naked and imprisoned, the sick and unemployed, in those who are persecuted,
refugees and migrants. There we find our
God; there we touch the Lord. Jesus
himself told us this when he explained the criterion on which we will be
judged: whenever we do these things to the least of our brothers and sisters,
we do them to him (cf. Mt 25:31-46). After
the corporal works of mercy come the spiritual works: counseling the doubtful,
instructing the ignorant, admonishing sinners, consoling the afflicted,
pardoning offences, bearing wrongs patiently, praying for the living and the
dead. In welcoming the outcast who
suffer physically and welcoming sinners who suffer spiritually, our credibility
as Christians is at stake. Humanity
today needs men and women, and especially young people like yourselves, who do
not wish to live their lives “halfway”, young people ready to spend their lives
freely in service to those of their brothers and sisters who are poorest and
most vulnerable, in imitation of Christ who gave himself completely for our
salvation. In the face of evil,
suffering and sin, the only response possible for a disciple of Jesus is the
gift of self, even of one’s own life, in imitation of Christ; it is the
attitude of service. Unless those who
call themselves Christians live to serve, their lives serve no good
purpose. By their lives, they deny Jesus
Christ. This
evening, dear friends, the Lord once more asks you to be in the forefront of
serving others. He wants to make of you a concrete response to the needs and
sufferings of humanity. He wants you to
be signs of his merciful love for our time!
To enable you to carry out this mission, he shows you the way of
personal commitment and self-sacrifice.
It is the Way of the Cross. The
Way of the Cross is the way of fidelity in following Jesus to the end, in the
often dramatic situations of everyday life.
It is a way that fears no lack of success, ostracism or solitude,
because it fills ours hearts with the fullness of Jesus. The Way of the Cross is the way of God’s own
life, his “style”, which Jesus brings even to the pathways of a society at
times divided, unjust and corrupt. The
Way of the Cross alone defeats sin, evil and death, for it leads to the radiant
light of Christ’s resurrection and opens the horizons of a new and fuller
life. It is the way of hope, the way of
the future. Those who take up this way
with generosity and faith give hope and a future to humanity. Dear
young people, on that Good Friday many disciples went back crestfallen to their
homes. Others chose to go out to the
country to forget the cross. I ask you:
How do you want to go back this evening to your own homes, to the places where
you are staying? How do you want to go
back this evening to be alone with your thoughts? Each of you has to answer the challenge that
this question sets before you….
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis visited on Friday the Pediatric Hospital of Prokocim near Krakow and in an address to patients and staff said he wished that “We Christians could be as close to the sick as Jesus was, in silence, with a caress, with prayer.” Sadly, the Pope continued, “our society is tainted by the culture of waste” and the victims of this “are the weakest and frailest and this is indeed cruel.” He thanked all those working at the hospital for the love and compassion shown towards the young patients, describing this as “the sign of true civility, human and Christian: to make those who are most disadvantaged the centre of social and political concern.”
Please find below an English translation of the Pope’s greeting to patients and staff at the Children’s Hospital:
Dear brothers and sisters,
A special part of my visit to Kraków is this meeting with the little patients of this hospital. I greet all of you and I thank the Prime Minister for his kind words. I would like to draw near to all children who are sick, to stand at their bedside, and embrace them. I would like to listen to everyone here, even if for only a moment, and to be still before questions that have no easy answers. And to pray.
The Gospel often shows us the Lord Jesus meeting the sick, embracing them and seeking them out. Jesus is always attentive to them. He looks at them in the same way that a mother looks at her sick child, and he is moved by compassion for them.
How I would wish that we Christians could be as close to the sick as Jesus was, in silence, with a caress, with prayer. Sadly, our society is tainted by the culture of waste, which is the opposite of the culture of acceptance. And the victims of the culture of waste are those who are weakest and most frail; and this is indeed cruel. How beautiful it is instead to see that in this hospital the smallest and most needy are welcomed and cared for. Thank you for this sign of love that you offer us! This is the sign of true civility, human and Christian: to make those who are most disadvantaged the centre of social and political concern.
Sometimes families feel alone in providing this care. What can be done? From this place, so full of concrete signs of love, I would like to say: Let us multiply the works of the culture of acceptance, works inspired by Christian love, love for Jesus crucified, for the flesh of Christ. To serve with love and tenderness persons who need our help makes all of us grow in humanity. It opens before us the way to eternal life. Those who engage in works of mercy have no fear of death.
I encourage all those who have made the Gospel call to “visit the sick” a personal life decision: physicians, nurses, healthcare workers, chaplains and volunteers. May the Lord help you to do your work well, here as in every other hospital in the world. May he reward you by giving you inner peace and a heart always capable of tenderness.
Thank you for this encounter! I carry you with me in affection and prayer. And please, do not forget to pray for me.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday morning paid an emotional visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial and museum, the site of a Nazi concentration and extermination camp where more than 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were put to death during the Second World War.
Prior to his visit to the camp, the Pope decided he would not give a speech, saying he preferred to enter alone, in silent prayer. “I would like to go to that place of horror without speeches, without crowds — only the few people necessary,” he explained. “Alone, enter, pray. And may the Lord give me the grace to cry.”
Lydia O’Kane is in Poland with Pope Francis, and sends this report:
For the Pope, this visit to the former Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau was to be one of silence and prayer.
The only sounds to the heard were the shutters of the ever present cameras as a solemn Pope Francis walked alone through the infamous gate that reads “ Arbeit macht frei ” – “work sets you free”.
The Pope was then driven in an electric car to the notorious block 11, also known as the death block where Franciscan priest, Fr Maximillian Kolbe was killed after offering up his life for a complete stranger 75 years ago. You could hear a pin drop as the Pope sat in prayer with his eyes firmly closed in this place of suffering.
In one of the most poignant moments of this visit to Auschwitz I, the Pope met with survivors of this camp of terror, now elderly men and women who are the living witnesses to the horrors that took place here.
He greeted each one with a kiss on both cheeks and clasped their hands. Then holding a candle the Pope lit a lamp he had donated.
Following a prayerful visit to Maximillian Kolbe’s cell, Pope Francis made the 10 minute journey to Auschwitz II Birkenau, which was built in 1941 and saw the extermination of Jews on a massive scale. He saw for himself the train tracks and carriages that brought hundreds of thousands of people to their deaths and the now burnt out gas chambers that extinguished so many lives.
Then with a rabbi chanting Psalm 130 in Hebrew, this visit of reflection and prayer drew to a close with Pope Francis laying a votive lamp at the foot of the monument commemorating those people who never came home.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday sent a video message for young Cubans who organized their own youth gathering to coincide with the official World Youth Day events in Krakow, Poland. In his message the Pope praised the young people for taking this initiative and urged them to unite together in “a social friendship,” regardless of their differences and be “carriers of hope” and “builders of bridges.”
Around 1,400 young Cubans are taking part in their own youth gathering in the capital Havana that’s being attended by young people who for economic reasons cannot afford to travel to the WYD in Poland. They have adopted the same themes as the WYD in Krakow and the event includes catechesis sessions, a Way of the Cross procession and passing through the Holy Door.
Pope Francis told the young Cubans that he trusted this event will be an opportunity to promote a culture of encounter, respect, understanding and mutual forgiveness. He went on to urge them “not to be afraid of anything” and “to free themselves from the chains of this world” to announce the Good News.
Saying they must be “carriers of hope, the Pope told the young Cubans that in order to be this, they must retain their ability to dream, warning that whoever can’t dream is already like an old-age pensioner.
“Do not be afraid, do not be fussy or choosy,” he declared. “Dream that through your help, Cuba can be different and improve each day.”
Turning to the importance of hope, Pope Francis said hope brings people together to build “a social friendship,” and stressed that it isn’t necessary for them to all think alike to do this. What is important, he said, is that they all share “that desire to dream” and that “love for their nation” and together they can “build bridges” by stretching out their hands to others.
(from Vatican Radio)…